It has certainly been a long and interesting week so far… and to think, it’s only Tuesday!

As a peer advisor, I have participated in August Experience every year I have been at Hanover. Every year, it puts me back in check, keeps me on my toes and, as an alumna would put it, gives me a certain, “childlike wonder,” for the institution I have come to call home.

This week began with a bang. We moved first-years in for five hours Sunday – all 350-something of them! It was a blast getting to know people and remembering what it felt like to say goodbye to my own parents on move-in day.

Sunday night the p.a. staff hosted a welcome for the class of 2014 in the Horner Center. Every year this turns out to be an hilarious and memorable part of the week. This year was no exception, with the notorious “Cross the Line” game and our new favorite, a game involving noses and duct tape.

Monday began bright and early, with a few words on our Common Reading book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” Then the first years had lunch with their faculty advisors. Each student at Hanover has an advisor in their area of study. They are, in a nutshell, professors who are there to help you graduate!

Later in the day, we were blessed with three hours of free time in what has, so far, been a very busy but rewarding week. Everyone needs some time to rejuvenate! We ended the day with a movie and games in the new Student Activities Center, which the p.a. staff have so lovingly have dubbed the “SAC.”

My fabulous advisees and I taking a break during our Common Reading Discussion.

Today began much the same: an early morning and breakfast (involving bacon and french toast – YUM) in the Campus Center Dining Hall. The President welcomed the first-years to campus in the Center for Fine Arts and now they are all meeting with their Faculty Advisors again until noon.

As an upperclassman on campus, it can sometimes be easy to forget how lucky I am to go to Hanover. August Experience certainly puts things back into perspective for me, year after year. No matter how easy it is to lose myself in my very own Hanover bubble, seeing the new first-years arrive on campus each year and watching them make this amazing transition into college is always a kick in the pants.

To the first-years who have helped me in gaining a wider perspective this year and the graduated upperclassmen who ushered me through my own first year, thank you. As far as gaining perspective goes, August Experience has always been, for me, a simply splendid opportunity.

Note

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